Eldric's War
by Takeda Iesyu
Summary: A simple mercenary gets dragged into a war between the forces of Misthalin and Asgarnia against the dreaded Delrith.


The dark night was rolling in. Clouds covered the moon as Eldric pondered his recent request. Eldric was a mercenary. He would travel the land from Misthalin to Khandarin searching for someone who needed a bodyguard. Occasionally, he participated in one of the famous Castle Wars, but mostly spent his time searching the three kingdoms of man (occasionally Keldagram).

Recently, a man in blackest robes with a hood and a mask had asked him a favor. He explained that he was Lucien, and needed a bodyguard. He had seemed rather shady, and he had a sort of invisible aura of darkness around him. On the other hand, people don't offer 500,000 gold pieces every day. _I think I will see what Saradomin, Zamorak, and Guthix think_ he thought. Using his map, he discerned the location of an alter to all three of these gods. He headed north, to Taverly, and prayed at the altar of Guthix first. He explained his predicament, and a strange voice filled his head. It was neither too loud, nor too quiet. Neither too accented, nor too light. Neither too dark, nor too bright. It said _You must follow your heart_ before leaving his head. Bewildered, Eldric set off for Varrock, hoping that there was a chance that he may encounter 2 altars instead of 1. He first headed to the church, where he found Father Lawrence preaching in a monotonous drone. None of the congregation was awake or paying attention. Indeed some of them were sleeping. Explaining the problem to Saradomin in his prayers, a heavenly voice entered his head like the first one and said _Lucien is a mahjarrat: one of the ancient civilizations who have followed Zamorak since the Second Age! Do not-I repeat do _not_-follow him!_ Eldric was not sure now, his mind confused. He hoped that Zamorak might actually speak to him, as the bards sang of how whenever someone requested an audience with him, they usually ended up as a werewolf or vampire who tried to go to Morytania, but ended up slain by the river Salve. Hoping for the best, he headed to a shrine south of Aurbury's rune shop and began to pray…

The words spoke in his mind. He knew what to do, even though his conscience was screaming against his confirmation. Having the Ancient Magicks spellbook on him, he teleported to Edgeville. Entering Lucien's house, Eldric agreed to take the job. "Excellent!" the mahjarrat cried. "Excellent! You will do what I tell you to do, agreed?" Eldric agreed. He also agreed to Lucien's offer to pay him after he no longer needed a bodyguard. Using a waka canoe, Eldric made to the Champions' Guild, of which he was a part. Making his way back into Varrock, he rented a room in the Blue Moon Inn for a small amount of money, only to realize that Lucien was also staying there. Eldric undressed and got into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Morning came, and as Eldric dressed, a sharp rap on the door sounded. He drew his specially poisoned dagger from the Dorgeshuun mines and opened the door. Lucien stood on the threshold of Eldric's room and said "I require you at the stone circle outside Varrock. Take no armor and meet there before 5 hours past dawn," Eldric acknowledged and belted his weapons. He then removed his shirt and put on a rune chainbody before covering it with his shirt. Then, he set off for the stone circle.

When he arrived, he glared at the two wizards in dark robes before turning his gaze over to Lucien, who handed him some black robes and said "Put these on as fast as you can," Eldric did as he was told and was given a strange staff. Had he known better, he would've called it a Void Knight Mace, but the wood was gold, and the orange energy seemed to have a sort of fire inside it. As he held it, the two wizards held theirs and Lucien held his. The difference between Lucien's sigil and the other three was that Lucien's had glowing red energy instead of orange and was silver instead of gold. "Stand like four corners of a square around the stone table and repeat after me," Lucian barked. Eldric, Lucian, and the two wizards all took their places and they all began to chant "Caldar, Nahudu, Camerinthum, Tarren, Delrith!" several times over. At the third time of reciting the incantation, a strange purple and black ball of energy appeared directly above the stone altar. After each recitation of the incantation, the ball increased in size. It continued to swell until the tenth tine, which the ball of dark energy (now roughly twice the size of Eldric) slammed into the altar, causing it to crack. When the dust had settled, a monstrosity appeared. At first glance, Eldric thought of a lesser demon. But no, those black streaks weren't on any demon Eldric had ever seen (aside from Agrith-Naar, possibly) and the eyes were pure void. It took not very long when Eldric realized what he had done! Delrith had been summoned again.

The apoctoliptic demon started to look at his summoners. He looked at the first dark wizard, whose face was as white as Saradomin's beard. The wizard stared right back at Delrith until the demon looked at the second wizard. The second dark wizard cowered in pure terror, and was slain in a coupe of blows from Delrith's cursed claws. When Delrith turned his gaze toward Eldric, he returned the demon's glare with a scowl. Delrith finally turned his eyes toward Lucien. "Welcome, demonic brother!" cried Lucien. "Welcome to Gielinor! You know me? Lucien?" Delrith's voice was a dark and fiery growl not unlike Zamorak's when the lord of chaos had answered Eldric's prayers. "I remember you, Lucien," "Excellent!" Lucien cried. "Excellent! Now we can wreck Varrock like you were to do before!" Delrith replied "No," Lucien cocked his head to the side and opened his mouth when Delrith began to explain. "I have spent 5 years in abyssal space. _5 years!_ I want revenge! I want to destroy all of mankind!" he bellowed. At this, the remaining dark wizard turned and had started to run when Delrith sent a fire bolt to kill the coward. _Fire _bolt_?!?!_ wondered Eldric. _This guy's getting stronger by the second! _ As if he had heard his thoughts, Delrith turned his head toward Eldric and growled "Yes. The longer I am in Gielinor, the more my powers grow. In fact, the incantation Lucien had you and the cowards chant doubled the speed of which my powers grow," He demonstrated this by lighting a nearby tree on fire with a fire blast.

_I've got to get out of here!_ thought Eldric. Delrith turned his head toward Eldric and raised his hand, a blood rush forming in his hand. Eldric leapt out of the way just as the red bolt struck the ground where he had been seconds previously. As Eldric drew his rune longsword, Lucien waved his sigil, launching a blood rush of his own. The red bolt struck Eldric, but his ring of recoil seemed to hurt Lucien as well. Before he could dodge, Delrith launched a blood burst, which landed on Eldric's chest. Next, Delrith approached. He raised his hand and his claws seemed to overflow with dark energy. Eldric knew what was about to happen, he closed his eyes and prepared to welcome death as the claw swooped down.

But he never felt anything. Instead, he heard a couple _twang_s and objects rushing through the air. Delrith let loose a roar of pain as Eldric opened his eyes. 5 arrows, 3 brutals, 1 ogre arrow, 15 bolts, and a variety of thrownaxes, throwing knives, and darts protruded from the demon. Eldric diverted his gaze and saw a fairly small squad of rangers, some with bows or crossbows and others with knives, axes, and darts. Eldric took the temporary distraction and sliced a mighty gash into Delrith's arm. Black void flowed from the wound as Delrith cried in agony. Glaring at him, Delrith addressed Eldric with the words "You will pay, you will pay," before he turned into dark energy, and then into nothing.

Lucien glanced at the champions from the guild and swore. But, as Eldric flung his sword at him, the mahjarrat teleported. "Blast!" Eldric muttered angrily. He stepped forward, sheathed his sword, and turned to thank his fellow champions. But, even as his mouth opened, instead of thanks, oaths flew from his lips. A couple of lesser demons had appeared out of the same method of teleportation as the Mage of Zamorak when he was teleporting one to the abyss. Immediately, they slayed 5 of the rangers and injured the rest before they had even raised their weapons. Eldric felt as all blood left his face, and he raced to his room at the inn to don his battle armor. He also put away his longsword and replaced it with all of his granite armor and his maul. But even still, as he approached the south gate, chaos was well in order.

Guards were coming from all of Varrock to hold off the demon menace. But even still, the guards were no match for Zamorak's troops. Even as the champions helped the guards slay one demon, another appeared in the same fashion and took his place. However, that did not stop Eldric's charge. Granite was heavy, so he was slow. But when he reached the battlefront, many replacements were sent to try and hold the mercenary back. But the demons seemed to be retreating. Foreword. They fled the guards and champions as the headed toward the wilderness. But Father Lawrence stopped them with his special minefield. The "mines" contained holy water, so the demons died. No replacements were sent.

When Eldric saw what had remained of Varrock after the demons' rage sent sorrow into his heart. Many of the houses were destroyed, but the real sorrow was the bodies. There were at least 50 dead guards, not including the warrior women. Apparently, thieves and cutthroughts from both the Black Arm and Phoenix gangs had attempted to help. To Eldric, it looked as though both gangs were nearly utterly destroyed. Many champions were slain, some only gravely wounded and moaning for the pain to end. The walls were almost not even rubble, perceived Eldric. He knew that although the battle was finished, the war had only just begun.

"No!" cried Captain Rovin, slamming his fist on the table. He and many important people from Misthalin, including King Roald himself, were gathered at the hall in Lumbridge Castle. Since black imps had assaulted the very castle they were having the meeting in, they had to discuss tactics. "The Varrock guard had lost nearly 75 people in the attack on Varrock alone! If we need to spread across all of Misthalin, we will be nothing left!" Ur-Tag from Dorgesh-Kaan offered, "The Dorgeshuun are a peaceful tribe, but if we have to fight, we will," Duke Horacio added," The Lumbridge guardsmen have fairly good skills, but horrible equipment!" He faced King Roald and said "If the shops in Varrock outfit my guards, we may be better fit for battle," The king nodded and said "Very well. I will speak with my sword and armor shops about the matter," Mikasi of Lumbridge said, "If we can distribute enough air and mind runes among the guards and Dorgeshuun, we may be able to get a division of mages." Ur-tag nodded and opened his mouth to answer when the combat horn sounded from the top of the castle.

Eldric raced up to the tower and saw a horrid site. Every single citizen from Draynor Village were fleeing 7 vampires and a werewolf, who presumably burnt the village to the ground. Peering at the ruined church, Eldric was surprised to see H.A.M guards trying to fight the monstrosities off. Lady Keli's guards, the Wise Old Man, and the wizards from the wizard's tower were attempting to help. The Lumbridge guardsmen and Eldric raced to help. Since the many slain lesser demons from Varrock had given Eldric plenty of experience, he donned his dragon set and dragon two-handed sword as he raced into battle. He noticed that Wizard Mizgog was helping the monsters and a demon came to join the battle. Eldric slayed the vampires, werewolf, and demon with ease, but Mizgog was a problem. He casted blood bursts and fire bolts galore, and he fell many members of H.A.M. Eldric threw his sword through the air, and Mizgog's face showed shock as the sword sliced straight through his rib cage. He dropped to the ground, dead. The battle was won.

Eldric managed to get H.A.M, the Lumbridge Guardsmen, the Dorgeshuun (H.A.M were gritting their teeth and showing pure loathing when the cave goblins had come) , Lady Keli and her guards, the Wise Old Man, Mikasi and the other Lumbridge tutors, and many more to devise a strategy for combating the new waves of monstrosities. This started when King Roald ordered one of his elite bodyguards to head up to Varrock and inform Queen Ellamaria of Draynor Village's tragic fate. Oldak managed to make two moving-over-distance spheres for a short journey. Then Johanhuss spoke "I represent all of H.A.M, and if we have to work with these _goblins_ (using the word as a curse), then we will instead attack Misthalin!" The members of H.A.M spoke and murmered in agreement. Eldric, though ready to pluck out every single hair on his beard and shove it down his throat, remained diplomatic as he replied "We only need one thing: where is Sigmund? He should be with you, but he doesn't seem to be here." Johanhus scowled "I don't know. He said something about going east of a Dig Site, and then he disappeared." Eldric thought for a moment, then exclaimed "He's gone to Morytania!!!"

King Roald had ordered the gates leading to Paterdomis barred off in order to prevent werewolves and ghouls and ghasts and vampires and everything else from reaching Saradominist lands. However, he allowed Eldric and a squad of Champions to pass the gate. All of them wore ghost robes, as to hope that they wouldn't be seen as easily. Those who didn't wear the ghostly coverings wore Zamorak robes and an unholy symbol. All of them wielded their best weapon. For some, it was a rune scimitar. For others, an Ancient staff of a mystic battlestaff. For others still, it was a yew or magic bow. But one thing was certain: what they saw dismayed them.

_To be continued..._


End file.
